'Niggardly' Offense

[Faeelin]

Originally posted by MrFun


Ok, maybe white people have the right to own the feelings of black people, and tell THEM what they should find acceptable, and what they should find offensive.

I'll be blunt. Here's a message for her:

You are not special. You have not suffered anymore because you are black, in your lifetime, than a great many other people in the world. All things considered, you have most likely suffered a great deal less than many, many other people in the world.

If a Muslim wanted some one fired because, in history class, they used a sourcde from the time which referred to arabs as mohammedans, who would you support?

[Wraith]

--"I don't think the word should be taught to elementary schoolers, simply because their moral development and comprehension of society is stilted."

If you treat them like idiots, they will remain idiots.

--"I remember what it's like being a vicious little kid."

I could make a snide comment here, but I'll refrain
In any case, so what? Kids can do this with anything. They practice.

Remember the episode of the Simpsons where Bart breaks his leg because he falls from a tree? After he's been told that his epidermis is showing? There's a danger in not teaching kids the words, too.

--"Requiring the teacher to apologize and explain her mistake was definitely called for and necessary."

Mistake? I guess she shouldn't have bothered trying to teach them anything. It seems most teacher's unions share this view of the job.

--"and tell THEM what they should find acceptable, and what they should find offensive."

Or maybe we feel it's reasonable for people not to get offended by things that aren't offensive...

--"How many people here have ever used the word niggardly in real life, and not just when arguing about the word?"

At least one mayor...

Look, the word is in active use. That your friends don't have the range of vocabulary to use it doesn't mean other people don't.

--"She chose the one that any reasonable person would have thought twice about."

There's nothing at all unreasonable about this word. Unless you're going to complain just as long about us teaching the kids words like "duck" and "muck", which can be easily used in place of another offensive word.

Okay, one point everyone is missing here.
This is a school. This is a government-run school. There's this little thing called the First Amendment.
Government schools have no business whatsoever telling their teachers which words they can and cannot use. If she gets fired from this, I hope the ACLU takes the case.

I'm starting to agree with Bill Engvall's "Here's Your Sign" proposal...

This case is starting to bother me a lot. What Che and this mother are calling for is for government to be the arbiter of proper speech (and, by extention "proper thought"). That neither of them seem to realize this is even more disturbing.

Wraith
"Not only does the English Language borrow words from other languages, it sometimes chases them down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and goes through their pockets."
- Eddy Peters

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


I'm neither siding nor opposing. I do, however, think that this teacher shows remarkably poor judgement. One has to wonder why she'd drdge up a word that really hasn't been used here for about a hundred years, knowing damn well it sounds like the most hated word in the English language. The fact that it is a pajorative in its own right should also have made her pause before using it.

I wouldn't go so far as firing her, but I'd scritinizer her more closely. If she's dumb enough to do something which would almost certainly start a tempest, who knows what other dumb things she might do.

Despite having no evidence you insinuate that the teacher's motivation for teaching the meaning of this word was racism.

You accuse her of being "dumb" because she is more concerned with enlarging her student's vocabulary than pandering to the sensitivities of the ignorant.

[Kaak]

Oh yeah, right, like Shakespeare's vocabulary range was sooooo great. Don't get me wrong, he' a fantastic writer, but his plays are confusing not because he sought out difficult language but because Elizibethans talked funny.

I don't recall saying that he had an incredible vocab, merely that he didn't make his wording choices based on which word was more direct. Language is elegant, and non boring, because of its fluidity.

Any writer who just chose the most direct way of stating everything wouldn't be a writer very long...

[rah]

I agree closer to with Che. (SHOCKING to me anyway)

1. I do see no reason for the Teacher to apologize or be reprimanded/fired.
2. Questionable judgement using the word. I actually used the word when I was younger, but have since stopped using it. There are many other good words to use. Even though I said Questionable, I consider it a real minor minor lapse of Judgement.

And Finally, being offended by it's use is really silly. But there are a lot of stupid people in the world.

RAH

[Gibsie]

Indeed.

Many people are stupid
Parents are people
Thus many parents are stupid
Stupid people often do stupid things
Racism is a thing
Therefore stupid parents may complain about perceived racism

The real question however, is why is this important? There must be dozens of teachers complained about for many other similar stupidities- why should we give calls of racism special attention? bury it along with all the reports of teachers getting beaten up by angry parents that you never read about.

[Kaak]

you didn't pay attention in logic class...

[Gibsie]

Point out the illogicalness before you make such a vapid post next time please

Essenitally it's:
People are stupid
Therefore people do stupid things
[This] is a stupid thing, so we should expect [this] sort of thing from stupid people.

Don't you expect stupid people to do stupid things?

[Caligastia]

Who do you think was stupid Gibsie, the teacher or the parent?

[Gibsie]

The parent. The best way to deal with stupid people is to ignore them. I'm sure if this woman knew that people all over the world are talking about her story she'd feel even more compulsed to carry on her ridiculous crusade.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Caligastia
Despite having no evidence you insinuate that the teacher's motivation for teaching the meaning of this word was racism.

No I didn't. I insinuated that her motivation for using this word was stupidity.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


No I didn't. I insinuated that her motivation for using this word was stupidity.

You said:

One has to wonder why she'd drdge up a word that really hasn't been used here for about a hundred years, knowing damn well it sounds like the most hated word in the English language

Maybe its just me, but you seem to be alluding to more than just stupidity here.

[chequita guevara]

It's just you.

[Caligastia]

Ok then.

I understand what you are saying, but I disagree with you.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Actually, che it isn't just him. I understood the same thing that Cali did from your statement.